1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication cable systems, and, more particularly, communication cable systems for interconnecting a wiring closet with local area networks and/or telephones.
2. Description of the Related Art
An office environment is often divided into a plurality of workstations, each of which is located at a desk of an individual worker. Each workstation can include a telephone and a personal computer, or some other type of computer equipment. Each telephone must be hard wired to a telephone switching box, also known as a xe2x80x9cpatch panelxe2x80x9d. Similarly, each workstation""s. computer equipment is often wired to a data hub, possibly for inclusion in a local area network (LAN). The telephone switching box and the data hub are often placed together in a small room, referred to as a xe2x80x9cwiring closetxe2x80x9d, which is on the same floor of the same building as the workstations, as required by Category 5.
It is known to wire each of the workstations in parallel to the wiring closet. In a process called xe2x80x9cfield wiringxe2x80x9d, the voice and data lines of each workstation are meticulously matched to the correct connectors on each of the telephone switching box and the data hub in the wiring closet. A problem with field wiring is that it is time consuming, costly and requires skilled personnel, since the wiring of each workstation must be separately connected to specific connectors in the wiring closet. Because of the skill required, low quality and installation errors are also problems associated with field wiring.
It is also known to use an intermediate box called a xe2x80x9cmulti-user telecommunication outlet assemblyxe2x80x9d (MTOA) to interconnect the wiring closet and each of the workstations. In this case too, the workstations are wired in parallel, but to the MTOA rather than to the wiring closet. The MTOA and the wiring closet are interconnected by a plurality of parallel wires. These parallel wires can be pre-manufactured, but still do not directly plug into the telephone switching box or into the data hub. Thus, the MTOA must be field installed to the wiring closet by a premises wiring company.
The configuration of workstations in a modern open office is designed to be highly variable. When an office with point to point field wired communications is moved, it is first necessary to pull out and probably scrap the communication wiring. When the open office is reassembled, it is necessary for skilled cabling personnel to do a complete rewiring, usually going all the way back to the communications closet. In many instances, the open office furniture is not present when the wiring is being performed. Thus, multiple call backs of the wiring personnel are required.
What is needed in the art is a communications cabling system which interconnects a wiring closet with a plurality of workstations without the need for field wiring in order to install the communications cabling system.
The present invention provides a communications cabling system which starts from the wiring closet and requires neither MTOA boxes nor field wiring.
The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a communication system including a wiring closet having a data hub and a telephone switching device. Each of a plurality of workstations includes a telephone and/or a computer. A single cable assembly interconnects the wiring closet and the workstations. The cable assembly includes a plurality of connector assemblies, with each connector assembly being associated with a respective workstation. Each connector assembly has at least one breakout connector connected to a telephone and/or a computer of the respective workstation. Each of a plurality of cables has a plurality of electrical conductors. A first of the cables interconnects the wiring closet and a first of the connector assemblies. Other cables connect the first connector assembly and other connector assemblies in series.
An advantage of the present invention is that neither MTOA boxes nor field wiring is necessary, and the system may be installed by unskilled personnel.
Another advantage is that reconfigurations of the office layout are easily accommodated.
Yet another advantage is that the total number of the communications cables is much reduced, since workstations are connected in series rather than in parallel.
A further advantage is that the modularity of the connector assemblies allows the workstations to be easily reconnected to a different connector assembly.